Photo credit: Zachary Peters, BC Lions.
Their final test before the Grey Cup playoffs comes with massive implications. The 10-7 BC Lions wrap their 71st regular season with a visit to the 12-5 Saskatchewan Roughriders, where a win for the red-hot Lions assures them of a second-place finish in the logjammed West Division. As a result, it creates a much more desirable path to Winnipeg and the 112th Grey Cup, which is three weeks away.
Nathan Rourke and the Lions have been a progression for over a month. Now, they face a big challenge before the real season begins. With more, we have 5 Things To Know about our week 21 battle on the Prairies.
Week 21: Saturday, October 25: BC Lions at Saskatchewan Roughriders.
Kickoff: 4:00 pm PT, Mosaic Stadium.
TV: TSN.
Stream: CFL+ (U.S. and International).
Radio: 730 CKNW/Sher-E Punjab Radio Am 600/Sirius XM Canada Talks 167.
1. Destiny Remains In Our Hands
The math can get complicated, but it also remains really simple. With a win in Regina, the Lions will nail down homefield advantage for the Western Semi-Final one week from Saturday against the Calgary Stampeders. Should they lose, then it gets interesting with possible scenarios being third place and a trip to Calgary or even fourth place and a crossover to the Eastern Division.
All eyes will be on the Stampeders’ matchup in Edmonton Friday night and the Blue Bombers playing host to Montreal earlier on Saturday. If Calgary and Winnipeg both lose, the Lions would wrap up second before the game in Saskatchewan begins. If both of those teams win and the Lions lose, they fall to fourth. If the Stampeders win and Winnipeg loses, the Lions finish third with a loss. Should Calgary lose and Winnipeg win, the Lions would also end up third in a three-way tie scenario. Confused yet? A win erases all of these possibilities.
2. Not Much Rest For The West Leaders
Despite locking up the top spot and homefield advantage for the November 8 Division Final two weeks ago, the Roughriders won’t be taking the week off. Last week, they rested eight starters on offence, including quarterback Trevor Harris, running back A.J. Ouellette, and wide receiver Samuel Emilus, in a 19-17 defeat at Winnipeg.
The Riders’ depth chart features Harris, Ouellette and most of their regular starting lineup on both sides of the ball. Simply put, this will be as tough a test as any that this Lions team has faced so far this season. A key area for the Lion defence to focus on is containing Ouellette in the backfield after he combined for 211 rushing yards in the previous two meetings. New difference makers Levi Bell and Bradlee Anae will get their first look at this Rider front. The big key will be forcing Harris and company to be one-dimensional.
3. Balanced Offence Is Key
A big reason Rourke and the offence once again exceeded 500 net yards in last week’s win over Edmonton was the fact that they established a ground game. Rourke and Butler each had 82 yards, with 70 of those coming on the quarterback’s outstanding touchdown run in the third quarter. You can count on Rourke using all of his receivers effectively.
Getting the backfield game going early and controlling both the clock and time of possession with Butler and Zander Horvath is a big key to coming out of this one on top. These are the important elements that will also get results come playoff time, especially if the Lions end up back in the great outdoors of Regina in a couple of weeks. As per the update from Lions’ historian Steve Daniel, the unit is now averaging a staggering 8.01 yards per play. That would be the most productive offence in CFL history, surpassing the 2010 Calgary Stampeders.
4. Turnover Battle Looms Large
It may seem like an obvious point to win the turnover battle. That notion has also held true during this five-game winning streak, where the Lions have a combined ratio of plus-seven in the turnover-giveway category.
The Riders’ defence leads the CFL with 39 forced turnovers, including a league-best 23 interceptions so far this season. It will be a very intriguing matchup, watching the CFL’s most productive offence(510 points through 17 games) against a Saskatchewan unit that has prided itself on closing a few games this season. The Riders are also in the top three in 11 of 12 key defensive categories.
The BC Lions Week 21 depth chart is here!
Saskatchewan bound.
#BCLions | @PlayNowSports pic.twitter.com/oHomTugUVu— BC LIONS (@BCLions) October 24, 2025
5. What They’re Saying
“We’re going there to win a football game, that’s what we’re going to do. Yeah, having the understanding that we need to be playing our best football. A lot of things to clean up and we expect those things to get cleaned up this week and expect to play well.”- Buck Pierce on the mindset and approach staying the same, no matter what happens in the Calgary and Winnipeg results.
“We certainly have confidence and belief in ourselves. We’ve had that since day one, even when it wasn’t as obvious to other people. The last couple of weeks, we’ve just kept on a 1-0 type of mentality and I think that’s going to serve us best moving forward. So, we’re going to continue to understand that we’re still trying to get better every single week, we’re going to take business one week at a time and the cards are going to fall in our favour.”- Rourke on how winning has bred a good culture before the playoffs.
Extra Points
As per the depth chart above, the only lineup change sees defensive tackle Tomasi Laulile activated in place of the injured Jonah Tavai (thigh). Veteran Garry Peters is listed as a Game Time Decision (knee).
A win for the Lions on Saturday gives them a 6-4 record against Western Division rivals. The last loss to a divisional foe came against Saskatchewan way back in week seven: our Watermelon Smash game, when the Riders prevailed 33-27.
Lee’s impact looms large: since the Lions brought back the veteran defensive back in early September, the squad is 5-0 in games he’s played in. In those contests, Lee has registered 25 tackles. In last week’s win over Edmonton, he had an interception, sack and forced fumble.
With 2,824 combined receiving yards, Keon Hatcher Sr. and Justin McInnis have the opportunity to become just the second Lions duo in history to reach 3,000 in a single season. The first was Ray Alexander and Matt Clark, 3,135 yards in the 1991 campaign.
Rourke enters the final regular season contest just 78 passing yards shy of 5,000 for the season. He holds a league-best 328.1 yards per game, something to keep in mind as the ballots for Most Outstanding Player are set to be cast